Last night, Assembly of Dust returned to the road for a New Year’s Run which began at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. AOD continues their brief tour tonight with a date at the World Café Live in Philadelphia, before front man/guitarist/singer/songwriter Reid Genauer plays a sold out solo acoustic gig on the 30th at McCue’s in Keene, New Hampshire. On New Year’s Eve, the band will hit the historic Colonial Theatre in Keene, also the site of their 2007 year-ending gig, which spawned their new live album, Found Sound. The performance was secretly recorded by noted sound engineer, Jack Trifiro, in what one hopes to be a continuing series. Featuring eight songs over 70+ minutes of music culled from a much longer performance at that December 31, 2007 gig, it is a sublime document of a band that can combine the sweet craft of songwriting with some rather formidable jam passages. Suffice to say, the album contains some of the best jams of any AOD release, and especially spotlights longtime guitarist Adam Terrell. Attendees to Friday night’s New Year’s Eve gig at the Colonial Theatre will receive a free copy of the new live album; whereas, the official release will be in early 2011.
Jambands.com sat down with Genauer for a pre-New Year’s Eve discussion as we look at his career-length evolution into one of our scene’s finest songwriters and musicians. It has been ten years since Genauer took that fateful step away from his original band, Strangefolk, the group he formed with guitarist Jon Trafton, and it has been another successful decade for the talented artist who continues to fascinate with resonating work, which is equal parts classic Americana with a lyrical edge and flat out ballsy rock.
RR: The first 150 people who purchased a ticket to the Assembly of Dust New Year’s show also get to see you play a solo acoustic gig on December 30.
RG: Solo shows are something I’ve done sporadically throughout the years. I guess at my core I think of myself as a singer/songwriter. Although, I prefer the band setting, it’s always been a nice yin to my yang. (laughs) It’s really just been a nice contrast to what I’ve done in the band context. Beyond a creative release, it serves two purposes—one being the revealing of the bones of a song for those that are familiar with it, that it has a meaning to, and then, secondarily, there’s a group of listeners out there who prefer acoustic music and to those fans, that form resonates more with.
There are people around the country who have not had a chance to see the band, or the singer/songwriter—you know, song and dance. So we thought that would be cool to combine the two for New Year’s and give those who were traveling a chance to take in both with one swipe of the credit card as it were. (laughter)
RR: You’ve been successful in a band environment and as a singer/songwriter. You also opened up the door to a collaboration involving various musicians, which occurred on last year’s AOD release, Some Assembly Required. Based upon that experience, and your roles in the past, where do you see yourself in the future?
RG: In terms of what I hope to do, I’m not 100% sure. I think the next album we do, which we’re starting to plan for now, I’d like to try and capture some more of the acoustic-y, singer/songwriter, stripped-down stuff. I’m not sure it’ll be all that. In the past, there’s always been a hint of that, whether it’s in the context of a song, or a couple of songs that have been placed strategically in the album. I’d sort of like to flip that equation on its head, and try and focus on some of the acoustic stuff—not necessarily solo, but more stripped-down instrumentation.
RR: Is it too lazy to say that you may be coming back full circle based upon your own origins and where you started off as an acoustic duo with Jon Trafton?
RG: Yeah, you know, I think the realization of a mature, acoustic-based band sound has been in my genetics, or in my cross hairs, since the get go, and I’ve never really fully realized it. I always know it’s there, and it’s something I hope to tap into. But, yeah, in some ways, at the inception it was there, and I had originally envisioned a standup bass for Strangefolk. It didn’t play out that way, and it kind of got swept up into a more electric sound, so here I am, ten years later (laughs), like you say, revisiting that notion.
RR: Are you considering doing some more acoustic duo work with Adam Terrell, and adding in layers of the band, as well?
RG: Yeah, Adam and I have done a bunch of acoustic duo shows in the past, and we’ve done little runs. In fact, several of the tunes for Some Assembly Required were just started with a click track and two acoustic guitar parts or, in some cases, just Adam playing the guitar. I think that’s certainly in the cards. It’s a pretty versatile group of musicians, and given the right venue—whether it’s the studio or live—and the right instruments, I have no doubt we can do it. One of the challenges in the live setting is bringing acoustic instruments into the bar scene can be a bitch. There’s an expectation. It’s like going to a barbeque, and there’s vegetarian dishes being served. You go to a barbeque expecting meat; you go to a rock club expecting rock. The converse is that there are other venues—whether they are theatres or smaller coffee house-type rooms—where there is, maybe, a more mature vibe—a less raucous one, anyhow. I think there are bands who just demand that kind of attention. Ray LaMontagne comes to mind or, even, Phish when they’ve done their a cappella things. You’re in a room full of 20,000 people, and the crowd will hush to a whisper. There are ways to do it, but it’s challenging.
RR: I know you’ve had to loosen up your songwriting process over time. How protective are you of your songs? Was it difficult to bring in other musicians to collaborate on your songs and broaden your ideas?
RG: In answering that question, I think it goes beyond the scope to control issues, which are much broader. I used to feel challenged when I’d bring a song to a band, and it would come out in a way that I didn’t imagine it. There are songs that I imagined a certain way, and would come out with a different feel or riff that somebody contributed that I hadn’t thought of. At the start of making music, I had a much harder time of backing off, and I think that’s one of the hardest lessons learned—how to collaborate cooperatively. I think it’s a bitch for people, in general, but it’s certainly a challenge for musicians, and, specifically, songwriters, within that subset.
That’s one thing that, when I examine myself, I’m proud of having conquered on some levels. In inviting all these guests to play on Some Assembly Required, that was an added layer of risks in that you’re dealing with a personality that you’re not intimately familiar with, and, in some cases, the recordings were done remotely, so you literally weren’t there. I guess, with few exceptions, they came back playing the parts that I imagined they might. I thought a lot about the pairings of songs and the players, and I was intimately familiar with each of their music, so I had a feel for what they did. There were a couple of instances where I was a little challenged to re-digest the song in a new way, but nothing revolutionary. I think the extreme example was Martin Sexton, who was assuming was going to sing harmony and maybe sing a verse or two, and he did an electric vocal solo that wound up sounding like a slide guitar. (laughs) That one kind of threw me for a loop. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it worked out.
RR: We’ve just touched upon the democratic process of song collaboration, so I have to ask about the recent Get Out the Vote Rally event in South Norwalk, Connecticut, which featured Guest of Honor, Bill Clinton. What was it like to play in an environment like that?
RG: It was really cool. You know, I kind of went on a whim, and it was a last minute thing. I was more going out of curiosity to see what the whole thing was about, but it was a trip to stand up on stage in front of a couple hundred people in a gym, most of whom had no idea who I was, with a guitar and a mike and sing a couple of songs. It was a real buzz, actually, because I was talking about that bubble of attention and expectation, and they came to see somebody speak. Their expectation level was that they would, in fact, be standing in a gym, listening to someone orate. So, I was ahead of the curve in some ways with a guitar and a song, and it just reminded me why I started playing guitar in the first place, which was to see people’s faces transform and their body language reflected back to you and how your song was playing on them. It’s drug-like. It’s funny that it was so potent, and that I was so struck by it in that environment, but I really was.
RR: What else keeps you revitalized as a musician?
RG: There’s a whole litany of little (laughs) artistically nutritional moments, that range from something that I just described to a good performance at your average venue and a great vibe in the room to a fan writing a note—be it through Facebook or e-mail—saying what this song, this music has meant to them to meeting fans in odd places to marquee performances at special places like having the opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall in the last few years, or Bonnaroo, so there’s all these little moments of affirmation. Mostly, it comes from feedback—either literal or otherwise from fans. The last record, itself, Some Assembly Required had an effect in some ways just because it was a sign of endorsement from a lot of musicians who I really respect and admire.
RR: The new live album, Found Sound —songs from the 12/31/07 gig at the Colonial Theatre in New Hampshire—was not being recorded to your knowledge, correct?
RG: (laughs) Yeah. You know, we’ve had other live recordings, most notably The Honest Hour, which had lots of planning and preparation and pre-production. This was just on a whim that [Jack Trifiro, sound engineer] decided to record it. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen in the next few years. First of all, it was just cool to go back and hear a recording that was recorded in somewhat of a pristine way. It was a performance that I didn’t particularly closely remember as good or bad. But in listening back to it, we felt really good about it, and we thought it would be cool to release something that was unfiltered. I guess the only filter being that the show was probably two and half hours or more, and you can only fit 70 minutes or so on a disc, but what’s cool about it is I spent a lot of time working on songcraft and telling the story, whether it was through the performances or through interviews about songwriting, and I’m proud of the songs that are on there, and I think they stand as songs, but what is cool about this as an official release for us is that it’s got a couple of songs that are really wham bam jammers. It really features Adam Terrell’s guitar playing, and the band’s ability to play as an ensemble and to improvise.
I’ve never had an issue with being lumped into the jambands bucket. But I think what comes with that is the assumption that either it’s all about the jam or at least you can jam. We’ve spent so much time focusing on the songwriting element of it, that it is almost second nature, but in some ways, also, just a release to say, “O.K., here’s a quote/unquote album that’s just us playing.”
RR: Let’s talk about some of the material on Found Sound which has been played live, but never been recorded for a studio album.
RG: There are three songs that haven’t been on any of the albums that I’ve been a part of, either in Strangefolk or Assembly of Dust—“Feline Disguise,” “Long Dead,” and “Songbeard.” I don’t really remember where or when or why I wrote “Feline Disguise.” (laughter) It’s been in our repertoire, and it’s just never found its way to a record. That is really the case for all three. Although, “Songbeard” has been around for a long time. I played that with Strangefolk, as well. That really is a live song. It’s a wanky song. It never felt concise enough to merit putting it on a studio album. [ Found Sound ] is a perfect place for that one. The other two [“Feline Disguise” and “Long Dead”]—I still would consider doing studio versions at some point, but I was happy with the versions from the show, and felt that there was something refreshing about having new material on the record, even though it won’t be new for the diehard fan. But for the bulk of people listening to this record, they will be.
RR: Speaking of “Songbeard,” “Borrowed Feet” has a pretty smokin’ jam, too.
RG: It does. The thing that is cool about that one is that it’s a totally different feel and groove that we wound up putting on [ Some Assembly Required as a bonus track featuring John Scofield]. The studio album version had a gritty, deep groove to it, and this is more, almost like, gosh, certainly less gritty, and almost Grant Greenesque.
RR: “Cabin John” is also a thing of beauty, a veritable ‘whisper-to-a-scream’ song, and there’s definitely a freshness about this performance of that particular tune.
RG: Absolutely. We approach it, again, with a different feel, and it’s been a staple of our live performances forever. And it’s cool because there will be people that it’s brand new to, and there will be people who will see it as a renewed interpretation. It’s really funny. I don’t know exactly what the breakdown is. Of course, a lot of people stuck with me through the Strangefolk years, and, then, there are others who discovered the band subsequently, and it’s hilarious that they’ll ask if some ancient song is new. They’ll go to a show, and maybe there were a higher proportion of Strangefolk songs than we normally did, and they’ll say, “Wow, you played a lot of new tunes tonight.” (laughter)
RR: To me, that’s beautiful, too, because when you talk about receiving feedback, if some fan thinks that song is new, doesn’t that keep you from phoning in your performance, so, instead, you are playing the song as if it is new in the moment?
RG: Sure, I think there’s some of that. Some of it’s that there are certain people that only know the songs that are on the AOD records. And, so, material beyond that is new to them, and that’s cool.
RR: As much as I’ve been drawn into your songcraft, lyrics and music over the years, you’ve also got a major influence on the last track on Found Sound with AOD’s cover of “Lady Madonna.”
RG: You can’t really play rock music anywhere in the world and not claim to be influenced by the Beatles. I’ve always heavily focused on original material because, for me, I don’t know, that’s sort of the magic of it, right? Creating something, having inspiration, or some thought process and sharing it with people and getting feedback—that whole loop is really at the core of what gets me off. But, there is a certain place for cover songs because a) they’re just fun and they’re fun for the audience, and b) if you’re dissecting the band, it’s cool to check out the covers they do because it says a little something about who they are and what informs their art. I felt good about this one. We certainly didn’t take any great liberties with it, but at the same time, it sounds like us playing a Beatles tune, rather than us trying to sound like the Beatles. It’s a fine line.
RR: Found Sound was recorded on New Year’s Eve 2007 at the Colonial Theatre, and AOD will return to that historic venue this Friday on New Year’s Eve. What are your thoughts about that venue, and why is it special to you?
RG: It’s really special to me. It’s sort of in a class of special venues, a collection of small theatres all around the country, and, often, in small towns around the country. Well, certainly, Boulder and Lexington, Kentucky and Ithaca, New York have theatres that were built at the turn of the last century, and they have withstood the test of time, so there is something historic about these places to begin with, and the performances for me, whether they were personal ones or by other bands—I’ve heard of the Colonial Theatre from Phish playing there. It has its mythical sound—Colonial Theatre, right?—the name, itself, and the fact it’s been blessed by Phish in their early years. It’s always held a special place for me.
I feel this album really features Adam Terrell’s guitar playing in a way that it hasn’t been. He’s featured every night as a soloist, and takes up a large part of the show, a large component of the show, but extended jams have not been a part of our recording process. Not even for The Honest Hour, which was much more of a contrived, or contained, anyhow, live recording. So, this is cool. It takes the lid off of Pandora’s Box a little bit.
RR: Let’s talk about the 2010 New Year’s Run. Jason Crosby will be with AOD?
RG: Yeah, Jason’s playing with us all three nights. He’s played with us the last dozen gigs or so. I’ve been enjoying getting to know him. Yeah, he brings a lot. Personally, he’s a great guy and, musically, he brings a lot to the table. He’s definitely coming from a similar head space, musically, and he’s got a lot of weapons in his arsenal both in terms of his musical vocabulary and the instruments that he plays. He plays guitar, piano, violin, trumpet—just a gifted guy.
RR: What about some of the specifics about the New Year’s Eve show itself?
RG: We’re not going to be flying around on a hot dog or anything. (laughter) But, we spent a few days in the studio rehearsing, which, believe it or not, is novel for us. Jason will be playing with us and he’s been bring a lot of freshness and enthusiasm to the performance. We’ll definitely bust out a new cover or two. We’re trying to do some songs that are deep, deep into the repertoire; we’ve been working on a couple of those. It’ll RAWK, New Hampshire style.
RR: And into 2011?
RG: We’ll keep pounding out gigs, and hopefully, try and make it to some of the corners of the country that we haven’t been to in a year or more. It’s fun to watch the incoming e-mail and Facebook messages to see where the loudest, squeakiest wheels are, so I’m sure we’ll address that by going to Colorado, or the Northwest, or down south at some point in the spring. Then, we are going to start making another studio recording, so we are planning and writing for that.
RR: Helps to have a new live album to come out of nowhere, too.
RG: Yeah. I don’t know how it’s all going to play out, but my hope is that it will be an ongoing thing like Volume 1, like a Dick’s Picks collection.
RR: Jack’s Picks.
RG: Jack’s Tracks. (laughter)
RR: There you go—patent pending.
